Clothes-press.



W. T. FRANCIS.

CLOTHES PRESS.

APPLICATION Plum JULY 22, 1910 1,015,167, Patented Jan. 16, 1912.

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WILLIAM T. FRANCIS, 0F DANVILLE, VIRGINIA.

CLOTHES-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1912.

Application filed July 22, 1910. Serial No. 573,279.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I. \VILLIAM T. FRAXCIS, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Danvillc. in the county of Pittsylvania and State of Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Presses, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to laundry machines and particularly to presses. the object of the invention being to provide apparatus of this character wherein the clothes to be operated upon will be effectively dampened with the greatest uniformity.

Another object of the invention is to provide a driving shaft and mechanism controlled by the plunger head for throwing the said head into and out of operation.

In the drawings. forming a portion of this specification and in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views :Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved press. Fig. 2 is a detail section taken on the line '22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar section taken at right angles to Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an end view of the press.

The press consists of a receptacle 1 having suitable supporting legs 2. The receptacle is formed with an open front portion, as shown, for a purpose to be hereinafter described. At the top, the vertical sides 3 of the casing are connected by suitable brace rods 4. The sides of the said casing are formed with vertical guide grooves 5 in which the extensions 6 of the horizontal plunger 7 are mounted to travel. Immediately above the said guides, the sides of the casing are formed to provide similar guide grooves 8 in which the extensions 9 of a supporting member 10 are adapted to travel, the said guide grooves 8 being formed to present lower stop shoulders 11 to prevent movement in a downward direction of the supporting member past a predetermined point. The supporting member is provided with a pair of suitably spaced vertical guide stems 12 which are movable in correspondingly formed passages in the top of the easing. These stems are surrounded by extensile springs 13 which exert their energy to hold the sup orting member at the downward limit 0 its movement. A head 14 is suitably connected with the supporting member and as illustrated, it is arranged in exact parallel relation to the plunger 7,

Adjacent to the lower ends, the side members of the casings are connected by a horizontal member 15 which is aJertured for the reception of the screw 16 o the plunger 7. Immediately beneath the member 15 and supported by one of the legs of the casing is an apertured support 17 on which is arranged a vertical sleeve 18. The screw 16 extends through the said sleeve and through the support 17 and as illustrated, the said screw extends through the threaded passage of the operating bevel-gear wheel 19. This gear wheel is in mesh with a similar bevel gear wheel 20 on the driving shaft 21, the latter being supported by the casing 1 at a point immediately beneath the supporting member 15. At the outer end, the driving shaft supports loose pulleys 22 and 23 and a fixed pulley 24. At the end adjacent to the extension of the shaft 21 and at a point immediately above the said fixed and loose pulleys respectively is secured a bracket '25 from which extends a stem 26. An actuating shaft 27 is supported by the casing and mounted thereon is a fixed pulley 28 for operating the driving belts 29 for the fixed pulley .21 on the driving shaft. The stem '26 supports a horizontally adjustable shifting member 30 having guides 31 and 32 for the driving belts.

A lever 33 is pivoted between its ends to the outer extremity of the guide stem 26. This lever is connected preferably b a rod 31 with the belt-shifting member, t c said rod being operatively associated with the lower part of such lever. This lever supports a locking dog 35 which is designed for engagement in a recess 36 in the beltshifting member so as to hold the said shifting member against sliding movement. A spring 37 on the stem 26 exerts its tension normally against the said dog to hold it out of engagement with the belt-shifting member, the said dog being provided with a suitable handle 38 so that it can be moved against the tension of the spring.

Automatically operated means are employed for controlling the movements of the bolt-shifting member. This means consists of a vertically movable stem 39 which extends through the top of the casing. The lower extremity of the stem is arranged slightly above the yieldingly supported head 14 and the upper extremity of the stem is pivoted to a rock lever 40 which is pivotally supported on a post 41 at the top of the casv Q l a p acin ported head, a plunger movable toward and away from the head, actuating means for the plunger. means arranged in the path of movement of the head, and means arranged in the path of movement of the plunger, both of said means adapted to reverse the movement of the plunger in the operation thereof whereby to impart continuous motion to in". A crank shaft 42 is mounted in suitab e bearings at one end of the casing and as shown. the crank portion 13 of the shaft is operatively connected with the lower end of a link 14-. the upper end of the link being pivoted to the outer extremity of the herein- )tfOl'Q described rock arm. The crank shaft is formed to provide an arm 15 from which extends a wrist pin 46. A rock arm 47 is the plunger.

pivoted to the casing at the lower end there- 2. A press comprising a yieldingly supof and as illustrated, such arm is pivoted to ported head, a plunger movable toward an a vertically movable stem 48 which slides in away from the head, actuating means for a guide 49 on the member 15 of the casing. the plunger including a belt shifting mecha- This stem is provided with a finger 50 which nism, means arranged in the path of moveis located in the path of movement of the plunger 7. The opposite end of the rock arm 47 is pivoted to the lower end of a link 51, the upper end of the said link being operatively engaged with the wrist pin 46 of the crank shaft.

In operation of my improved laundry press, the clothes to be operated on are dampened in the usual manner previous to them in the press. To obtain a perfeet uniform dampness of the clothes they are placed on the plunger 7, after which, as suming that the belt 29 is engaged with the fixed pulley of the driving shaft, the said shaft is revolved to transmit power to the driving screw of the plunger, causing the lunger to move upwardly toward the yieldingly supported head 14. It may be ment of the head, means arranged .in the path of movement of the plunger, both of said means adapted to operate the belt shifting mechanism to reverse the movement of the plunger in the operation thereof, whereby to impart continuous motion to the plunger.

3. A press, comprising a yieldingly supported head, a plunger movable toward an away from the head, an operating shaft for said plunger, fixed and loose pulleys respectively on the operating shaft, driving belts operatively associated with the pulleys, belt shifting mechanism operatively associated with the belts, a crank shaft operatively connected with sai belt shifting mechanism, means arranged in the path of movement of stated the head and operatively connected with that the extensile springs for supporting the said crank shaft, means arranged in the path said head 14 are very strong and capable of of movement of the,plunger and operatively responding to a certain given pressure. connected with said crank shaft, both of said means adapted to operate the crank shaft whereby to actuate the belt shifting mechanism to reverse the movement of the plunger in the operation thereof and impart continuous motion thereto.

4. The combination with a driving shaft, a sliding plunger geared thereto and fixed and loose pulleys respectively on the driving shaft, of driving belts operatively associated with the pulleys, belt-shifting mechanism operatively associated with the belts, a yieldingly supported head disposed in the path of movement of the plunger to be engaged thereby in one direction of its movement, and actuating elements disposed in the path of movements of the plunger and head respectively and operatively connected with the belt-shifting mechanism.

In testimony w ereof I afiix my signature in presence 0 two witnesses.

WILLIAM Z 'r. FRANCIS.

After the plunger has been moved upwardly to cooperate with the head 14 the clothes will be pressed effectively to present thereto a uniform dampness. Inci ent to the provision of the head 14 and the peculiar manner of supporting it, it will be understood that after a certain pressure has been applied thereto in movement upwardly of the planger 7 it will contact with the stem 39 to move it upwardly and to rock the lever 40 and the crank shaft 42 sufficiently to move the belt-shifting member to cause the belt 29 to move onto the loose pulley fli -This movement of the belt shifting member will move the belt 30 off of the loose pulley 22 and associate it operatively with the fixed pulley whereby on continuation of the operation of the machine the plunger will e moved downwar ly. When the lunger contacts with the lower element of t e beltshifting mechanism the shifting member of such mechanism will be again moved to cause the belt 29 to be again associated with the fixed pulley. Witnesses:

I claim L. W. TRUE, 1. A press comprising a yleldmgly sup- G. D. 000K.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained tor five cents each, by addressing the Oommissloner of Patents.

Washington, D. 0'." 

